Recruiting Hedo Turkoglu: Proof is in the pizza

This is delicate stuff, recruiting an NBA free agent. So the hope here is that the Trail Blazers have done the proper amount of reconnaissance work when it comes to Hedo Turkoglu.

I'm not talking about his jump shot, or his court vision, or his willingness to share the big shots at the end of games.

I'm talking about pizza.

Turkoglu eats pizza before every game. And so the Blazers should get him a proper pie, the way he likes it (large mozzarella, no toppings). And if Paul Allen's employees at Vulcan have been doing their homework on the guy, they should know that the recruitment of Turkoglu is going to be tricky, so they're going to need a chopper, too.

We're told the free agent small forward met with Nate McMillan for dinner on Wednesday. And that he'll be in Portland today to meet with Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard and assistant general manager Tom Penn.

They should show Turkoglu the Rose Garden Arena today. Let him see the locker room, and take him to the practice facility. All that basketball stuff, sure. But the Blazers must realize that talking to the guy is one thing, and that signing him will require outside-the-box thinking.

Consider that Portland will likely have somewhere between $7 million to $10 million of salary cap space when the free-agent signing period begins. They could be outbid by another NBA team pursuing Turkoglu. But what they should never be is out-maneuvered, and the hunch here is that they understand this.

The Blazers are probably already thinking about offering a five-year contract, but what they need to offer is real comfort. And they need to start selling this city, and the opportunities it offers someone like Turkoglu, as much as they sell the basketball team.

Turkoglu was born in Istanbul. He grew up speaking Serbian, which his parents still speak to him. It's why as a rookie in Sacramento he became close friends with Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic. He called them "Brother Vlade" and "Brother Peja."

The Blazers don't have any Serbians on the roster, but here's hoping the "Brother KP" era officially begins today. I trust Pritchard, who woke up with a sunny view of Lake Oswego from his back deck today, will understand all he has to sell when it comes to this free agent.

Since Turkoglu grew up in a country that straddles two continents, in a city that has bodies of water all around it, Portland finds itself in a position to make him feel at home, doesn't it?

Turkoglu isn't a golfer. He's not a shopper. He doesn't obsess over automobiles, as some NBA players do. He's just a guy who plays basketball, and eats pizza, and what I'm thinking is that the Blazers need to think about this as the team tries to sell him on the notion of taking a little less money to come to Portland.

This isn't some Mickey Mouse city, see.

Brandon Roy is a Portland selling point. So is LaMarcus Aldridge. So is Nate McMillan's love of veteran players, because at 30, Turkoglu would be an elder on this roster. So is the championship trophy at the team practice facility, because Turkoglu got a taste in San Antonio, and the hunch here is that money isn't the only factor in his decision.

Turkoglu is the type person who appreciates simple things, and that's what Portland has to offer. Toronto can't offer Turkoglu Cannon Beach. Detroit doesn't have the Willamette River.

Pritchard needs to hook Turkoglu up with a tour guide.

Hire Ronen Paldi for the day. He lives in Portland, but has an apartment in Istanbul. And Paldi is usually busy organizing tours of Turkey for people in Portland.

So where would Paldi take Turkoglu?

"Take him to the water."

Istanbul has Bosphorus (known also as the Istanbul Strait), which connects the Black Sea and with the Sea of Marmara. Paldi said the Columbia River, when it has lots of boating activity, looks like "a close little brother."

There isn't a single Turkish restaurant in Portland. Also, this city can't come close to the multinationalism that Turkoglu's home city possesses. And so the Blazers should do what they can -- rent out a vacant downtown building for the day and hire an ambitious sign company to put up a "HEDO's" restaurant sign on the front.